So fung the Sirens, as of yore,
Upon the falfe Aufonian fhore ;"
And O for that preventing chain,
That bound Ulyffes on the main
That fo our fair-one might withstand
The covert ruin, now at hand!

The fong her charm'd attention drew,
When now the tempters stood in view;
Curiofity, with prying eyes,
And hands of bufy, bold emprize;
Like Hermes, feather'd were her feet,
And like fore-running Fancy, fleet.
By fearch untaught, by toil untir'd,
To novelty fhe still aspir'd;
Taftelefs of ev'ry good poffefs'd,
And but in expectation blefs'd.

With her, affociate, Pleafure came,

Gay Pleasure, frolick-loving dame ;
Her mien all fwimming in delight,
Her beauties half reveal'd to fight;

Loofe

Loose flow'd her garments from the ground,
And caught the kiffing winds around.
As erft Medusa's looks were known

To turn beholders into stone;
A dire reversion here they felt,

And in the eye of Pleasure melt.

Her glance with sweet perfuafion charm'd;
Unnerv'd the strong, the steel'd disarm'd;
No fafety e'en the flying find,

Who, vent'rous, look but once behind.
Thus was the much-admiring maid,
While diftant, more than half betray'd,
With smiles, and adulation bland,
They join'd her fide, and feiz'd her hand:
Their touch envenom'd fweets inftill'd,
Her frame with new pulfations thrill'd;
While half confenting, half denying,
Reluctant now, and now complying,
Amidst a war of hopes and fears,
Of trembling wilhes, fimiling tears,
Still down, and down, the winning pair
Compell'd the ftruggling, yielding fair.
As when some stately veffel bound
To blefs'd Arabia's diftant ground,
Borne from her courfes, haply lights
Where Barca's flow'ry clime invites,
Conceal'd around whose treach'rous land,
Lurk the dire rock, and dang'rous sand;
The pilot warns with fail and oar
To fhun the much-fufpected fhore,
In vain; the tide, too fubtly ftrong.
Still bears the wrestling bark along,
Till found'ring, fhe refigns to fate,

And finks, o'erwhelm'd, with all her freight.

So, baffling ev'ry bar to fin,

And Heav'n's own pilot plac'd within,

Along

Along the devious, smooth descent,
With pow'rs increafing as they went,
The dames, accuftom'd to fubdue,
As with a rapid current drew,
And o'er the fatal bounds convey'd
The loft, the long reluctant maid!

Here ftop, ye fair-ones, and beware,
Nor fend your fond affections there;
Yet, yet your darling, now deplor'd,
May turn, to you and Heav'n reftor'd;
Till then, with weeping Honour wait,
The fervant of her better fate,
With Honour, left upon the fhore,
Her friend and handmaid now no more:
Nor with the guilty world, upbraid
The fortunes of a wretch betray'd;
But o'er her failings caft the veil,
Rememb'ring you yourselves are frail !
And now, from all-enquiring light,
Faft fled the conscious fhades of night;
The damfel, from a short repofe,

Confounded at her plight, arose.

As when, with flumb'rous weight opprefs'd,
Some wealthy mifer finks to reft,
Where felons eye the glitt'ring prey,
And steal his hoard of joys away;
He, borne where golden Indus ftreams,
Of pearl, and quarry'd di'mond dreams,
Like Midas, turns the glebe to ore,
And ftands all rapt amidst his ftore;
But wakens naked, and defpoil'd

Of that for which his years had toil'd.
So far'd the nymph, her treasure flown,
And turn'd, like Niobé, to stone :
Within, without, obfcure and void,
She felt all ravag'd, all destroy'd.

And,

And, O thou curs'd, infidious coast!
• Are these the blessings thou canst boast?
• Thefe, Virtue! thefe the joys they find,
• Who leave thy heav'n-topt hills behind ?
• Shade me, ye pines; ye cavernis, hide;
• Ye mountains cover me!' fhe cry'd.
Her trumpet Slander rais'd on high,
And told the tidings to the sky;
Contempt discharg'd a living dart,
A fide-long viper to her heart;
Reproach breath'd poisons o'er her face,
And foil'd and blasted ev'ry grace;
Officious Shame, her handmaid new,
Still turn'd the mirror to her view;
While those in crimes the deepest dy'd,
Approach'd to whiten at her fide;
And ev'ry lewd, insulting dame,
Upon her folly rofe to fame.

What should fhe do?Attempt once more

To gain the late deferted fhore ?
So trusting, back the mourner flew,
As faft the train of fiends purfue.

Again the farther fhore's attain'd,
Again the land of Virtue gain'd;
But Echo gathers in the wind,
And fhows her inftant foes behind.
Amaz'd, with headlong speed fhe tends
Where late fhe left an host of friends
Alas! thofe fhrinking friends decline,
Nor longer own that form divine;
With fear they mark the following cry,
And from the lonely trembler fly;
Or backward drive her on the coaft,
Where peace was wreck'd, and honour loft.
From earth thus hoping aid in vain,
To Heav'n, not daring to complain,

No

No truce by hoftile clamour giv'n,
And from the face of friendship driv'n,
The nymph funk proftrate on the ground;
With all her weight of woes around.
Enthron'd within a circling sky,
Upon a mount, o'er mountains high,
All radiant fate, as in a fhrine,
Virtue, first effluence divine;

Far, far above the scenes of woe;
That' fhut this cloud-wrapt world below;
Superior goddess, effence bright,
Beauty of uncreated light;
Whom should mortality furvey,
As doom'd upon a certain day,
The breath of frailty must expire,
The world diffolve in living fire;
The gems of heav'n, and folar flame,
Be quench'd by her eternal beam;
And Nature, quick'ning in her eye,
To rife a new-born phoenix, die.

Hence, unreveal'd to mortal view,
A veil around her form fhe threw,
Which three fad fiftets of the fhade,
Pain, Care, and Melancholy made.

Thro' this her all-enquiring eye,
Attentive from her station high,
Beheld, abandon'd to despair,
The ruins of her fav'rite fair;
And with a voice, whofe awful found
Appall'd the guilty world around,
Bid the tumultuous winds. be ftill,
To numbers bow'd each lift'ning hill,
Uncurl'd the furging of the main,
And smooth'd the thorny bed of pain;
The golden harp of heav'n fhe ftrung,
And thus the tuneful goddess fung.

* Lovely